600X keyboard removal tips?

[m11k]

I just bought a (new to me) Thinkpad 600X. I'm following the HMM, trying to remove the keyboard to clean it (the home and pgup keys are sticky), and I also have a 650MHz CPU upgrade to install. The laptop is in pretty good condition, so I'm trying not to damage it. Looking at page 45 of the HMM, it shows you simply tilting up the keyboard assembly to disconnect the cables. I've been struggling trying to figure out how to get the assembly lifted up. I can't lift it up more than maybe 30 degrees or so without the plastic around the hinge feeling like its going to break. I discovered that the back of the hinge covers have little tabs that you can push in to release. That helped me lift the whole assembly up vertically a little bit (maybe half an inch), but I still don't have any room to tilt it up, or squeeze my fingers in to remove the cable. Any tips on how to safely do this? Is putting it back going just as complicated? These laptops and parts are getting harder to come by, I don't want to damage this little beauty.

Thanks!

[m11k]

Well, after watching this video, I had the confidence to reach in there and wiggle off the connectors, which did eventually work.

Had a hard time getting the CPU board out, but the installation of the 650MHz cpu was successful. Had to take off a bunch of the keys off of the keyboard and spend a few hours cleaning with some IPA because there was something seriously sticky under there. Working much better right now. Currently having a hard time getting getting it to boot. I was able to boot a linux live cd (antiX) and was able to do a basic install. It booted off of the hard drive once, but now it won't boot to either the CD-ROM or the HDD (just stops at a blinking cursor). The CMOS battery is completely dead, so I'm going to wait until I can replace that before I troubleshoot any more.

[fatkatsupra1]

Please post some pictures of your work! Sounds like a fun upgrade.

I must have gotten a dud bc the 600 I purchased had really weak screen hinges.

[kfzhu1229]

When you install the 650Mhz Pentium III CPU, you do realise that you either have to do the resistor mod on the CPU card or your motherboard has to be one of the very few unmarked 600X mobos that support speedstep, otherwise the CPU will always run at the lowest speed?
As for the CMOS battery for those, the soonest way to get around that is to open up and unweld the battery package and tape the contacts onto a brand new CR2032 battery.
Also, the hard drive controller at least on the original 600 can be very picky.
If you insert a drive that's larger than 32GB on the original 600 you are asking for trouble. Even if you partition the main partition to be just under 8GB the MBR can sometimes corrupt itself and the drive will never boot again on that computer unless you repartition!